Joel Wong, Ph.D.

Current title/affiliation/professional role(s):

I’m currently an Assistant Professor in the Counseling Psychology and Counseling/Counselor Education Programs at Indiana University Bloomington. I teach doctoral and master’s level courses in counseling theories, counseling skills, and social psychology. My main research interests are in the psychology of men and masculinity as well as Asian American mental health.

When did you join Division 51? What made you interested in joining?

At the suggestion of my former advisor, Dr. Aaron Rochlen, I joined D51 in 2003. I was relatively new to men and masculinity research, and I felt that it made sense to be connected to a group of professionals who knew much more than I did about the field.

What do you find most valuable about being a member of the division?

Although I’m a member of three APA divisions, I consider D51 my home division. I’ve found the division to be an easy place to connect with others with like-minded interests. The folks who show up at the D51 business meetings and social hours tend to be incredibly warm and supportive. Some of my most memorable D51 business meetings were those in which we sat in a circle and updated each other on our personal lives – what a refreshing way to conduct a business meeting! Perhaps the most profound impact that D51 has had on my life is that through the division, I’ve come into contact with folks who can talk the talk and walk the walk. As gender scholars, many of us talk about the potential negative effects of gender role socialization on individuals’ lives. But I’ve also met D51 members who model through their lives what it means to be free from these negative effects. I’ve met women and men who are caring, humble, non-competitive, and willing to be emotionally vulnerable. One example that stands out to me is my listening to a senior member of our division talk openly about his feelings of sadness at the recent loss of a friend during a D51 business meeting. D51 has taught me to be a better man, and this has in turn shaped my relationship with my wife and the way I raise my kids.

What are your clinical, teaching, research, or other applied interests relating to the psychology of men and masculinity?

I maintain an active research program in the psychology of men and masculinity. Within this field, I have pursued three distinct but related lines of research. One line of research focuses on men’s emotional lives. Several years ago, I wrote an article with Aaron Rochlen (Wong & Rochlen, 2005) proposing a tripartite framework for conceptualizing men’s emotional behavior. I’ve spent the past few years testing different aspects of this framework. A second line of research centers on social constructionist perspectives on masculinity. Specifically, I’ve been fascinated with how men construct idiosyncratic meanings of masculinity that are quite different from the conceptualizations of masculinity proposed by scholars. A third line of research focuses on stereotypes about men of color. Based on my understanding of the literature as well as my personal experiences, I suspect that stereotypes about men vary considerably across racial groups. For example, stereotypes about African American men are probably quite different from stereotypes about Asian American men. In a new study, I’m hoping to test this hypothesis and explore whether stereotypes about men are associated with people’s perceptions of masculinity. I’ve also become a bit of a scale development geek. I’ve been involved in the development of new measures of gendered racism stress for African American men, perceived social norms concerning men’s emotional inexpressiveness, subjective masculinity experiences, and subjective masculinity stress.